'Tears of Joy … I promise!'

Thursday

Nov 15, 2012 at 7:47 PMNov 15, 2012 at 7:53 PM

The home dedication for the Mitchell family was held earlier this month on West Outer Drive in Oak Ridge.

Special to The Oak Ridger

The home dedication for the Mitchell family was held earlier this month on West Outer Drive in Oak Ridge. Completion of The Mitchell House marks the 57th family to purchase their home from Habitat for Humanity of Anderson County through HFHAC's homeownership program.

"These are tears of joy, I promise," said Clintaya Mitchell, Habitat's newest homeowner, to the more than 50 attendees of the Nov. 4 dedication.

"It took some time to get here and there were many challenges along the way, but I am so very grateful for this opportunity," Clintaya said.

"My thanks go to my family who stood by me and volunteered their time to help. And I also want to thank the volunteers from First United Methodist Church.

"There were so many of you, and you were all wonderful!"

The road to purchasing a Habitat home is a long one but incredibly worthwhile, an HFHAC release stated. Families are put through an intense selection process, they are required to contribute 400 "sweat equity" hours building their home, and they must attend mandatory homebuyer classes to prepare them for homeownership.

When the house is complete, Habitat sells it to the family with a no-cost, zero-interest mortgage. Owner's payments support construction of more Habitat homes.

Habitat homeowners also pay property taxes, often for the first time in their lives. In 2011, for instance, HFHAC homeowners combined paid more than $115,000 in city and county property taxes — supporting crucial services.

The home will also be certified as an Energy Star 3.0 home. To earn the Energy Star certification, a home must meet guidelines for energy efficiency set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

These homes are at least 15 percent more energy efficient than homes built to the 2004 International Residential Code (IRC), and include additional energy saving features that typically make them 20 to 30 percent more efficient than standard homes.

The Mitchell House was built in partnership with several entities; however, the "house sponsor" bares the lion's share of the costs.

"In this case, HFHAC was very fortunate to partner with First United Methodist Church of Oak Ridge," a release stated. "They provided a $50,000 sponsorship, more than 45 volunteers who donated hundreds of hours working on the home, and other support services such as providing meal groups for volunteers and other workers."

Other financial support was provided through the Federal Home Loan Bank of Cincinnati's Affordable Housing Program, the local TnBank and Softwood Lumber, as well as generous contributions from area donors. TnBank also provided volunteers to landscape around the home.

Habitat for Humanity of Anderson County is pledged to the letter and spirit of U.S. policy for the achievement of equal housing opportunity throughout the nation. Habitat encourages and supports a program in which there are no barriers to obtain housing because of race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status or national origin.

To learn more about Habitat for Humanity of Anderson County, visit www.hfhac.org or call (865) 482-7713.